Dino Melaye’s name missing from ABU alumni website

The certificate scandal involving the senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, may be far from over, as his name was not found on the Ahmadu Bello University alumni website, PUNCH reports.

Melaye’s trouble began on Monday, March 20, when an online news medium, SaharaReporters, reported that the senator did not graduate from ABU for his first degree.

The senator had claimed that he obtained B.A in Geography from the institution.

Melaye had boasted that he was currently a student in ABU pursuing his seventh degree, adding, “Go round all the UNIS (universities) I attended in digging more.” A day after the news broke, Melaye, while speaking on the floor of the Senate, also addressed himself as an “authentic graduate” of ABU.

On Saturday, an exhaustive online search conducted by punch– from the 1998/1999 alumni set to 2007 – for Melaye’s name on the website of ABU Alumni Association did not give any result that shows that the embattled lawmaker is a graduate of the school.

His name, Daniel Jonah Melaye, as it appeared on a statement of result by the university, when searched, returned with zero result.

When PUNCH searched for ‘Daniel,’ ‘Jonah’ and ‘Melaye’ separately, different names came up.

A search for ‘Melaye’ brought up only one result: Melaye Sunday Ola (Biology Education), who graduated in 1980

When punch called the ABU Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adamu Mohammed, about 8pm on Saturday to find out why the senator’s name was not on the alumni website, his line rang out. On the second trial, the line was switched off.

A text message also sent to his mobile line on the matter had yet to be replied to as of press time.

When PUNCH contacted the President, ABU Alumni Association, Prof. Ahmed Tijanni-Mora, he said only the university could confirm if Melaye graduated from the institution.

He said, “The registrars of universities are in the best position to provide information about who attended their universities or not.” Last week, ABU’s spokesman, Mohammed, promised that the institution would come out with its position on Wednesday which it failed to do.